Tread Perilously continues its Doctor Who month with Peter Davison’s swansong in “The Caves of Androzani.”

When the Doctor and Peri arrive on Androzani Minor, they find themselves caught up in the complex struggle to control a substance known as Spectrox. Like the Spice Melange, it extends the lives of the humans living on Androzani Major. But it is only produced by the bats living on Minor. The planet is intensely unstable thanks to periodic mud bursts. Androids “mine” the material — which is deadly to humans before it is refined — from the bats, but they are led by a terrorist known as Sharaz Jek; who longs to revenge himself upon the CEO of Major’s leading business consortium. But is the CEO using Jek for his own ends? And will the Doctor and Peri survive their tour of the caves?

Nicola Bryant’s American accent inspires a discussion of Gerard Butler and the recent Mummy movie. Justin stumbles upon the notion of “Doc-splaining” and decides that it is okay to Doc-splain to Jaime. Erik and Justin attempt to explain the economic situation in the Androzani system and immediately start using Dune terms. Erik has a hard time saying “Morgus.” Justin has a hard time keeping the factions straight. Both praise the costuming choices and the hot-hot-hot repressed homoerotic tension between the Doctor and Jek. Alien: Isolation gets namechecked again and Justin decides Peri is a camp counselor.

Tread Perilously continues Doctor Who Month with the Twelfth Doctor story “Sleep No More.”

Arriving on a space station, the Doctor and Clara learn about the Morpheus sleep compression system. It turns a week’s worth of sleep into a five minute investment, allowing people to be more productive! But the side-effects are deadly as a team of Space Marines — featuring an artificially grown soldier known as Grunt — discover monsters in the dust of the wrecked station. Will the Doctor uncover the truth about Morpheus? Will Clara succumb to the danger in the corner of her eye? Will anyone make it out alive?

Erik confuses the voice of guest star Elaine Tan with that Jenna Coleman, giving him the fear of double Claras. Erik and Justin discuss the relatively good science in Grunt being based on the female genetic default. Justin points out the wisdom in clearly marking clones and suggests that they should all be made to look like Gary Busey. The pair get lost in a discussion of The Good Place. The episode’s resemblance to Aliens, Blade Runner and Alien: Isolation keep them distracted as well. Erik’s distaste for the Doctor/Clara by-play comes into focus once again. Justin praises the set design, but will he praise the story overall? Also, Erik points out his own speech impediments.

Tread Perilously begins a new Doctor Who month with a return to the Tom Baker era and “The Robots of Death.”

When the TARDIS materializes on a giant, roving mineral scoop, the Doctor and Leela find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery. The suspects include an ambitious mining captain, an angry junior officer from a good family, an undercover investigator, a robotechnician, an engineer, and over 100 robots trained in the First Law of Robotics. While the title might feel like a dead giveaway, the Doctor learns the truth is far more complicated.

In a twist from format, Erik drops Justin into an episode without telling him if it is Perilous or Safe. His ultimate opinion may surprise you. But their criticism of the story’s model shots will come as no surprise. Justin decides writer Chris Boucher is a “ragin’ cajun” instead of a British man. Erik compares the titular Robots of Death to Styx’s “Mr. Roboto” and refuses to attempt an H.R. Giger impression. Justin compares the robots to Alien: Isolation‘s Working Joes. Both get lost in the weeds to discuss the real economic engine on Tatooine and questionable Weyland-Yutani business practices. They also cannot help but make fun of a meteorologist named Chub.

Bonetti, Garcia and Tequila almost capture a notorious sex offender while on the undercover beat. But thanks to a procedural mistake which only occurs on television, he’s let go. Consequently, Garcia is targeted by the perp, who also happens to be a disgraced preacher. He manages to get Garcia’s daughter out of daycare to prove how easily he can become part of her life, so both Garcia and her daughter move to Bonetti’s dance studio/apartment. Meanwhile, Bonetti and Tequila stake out the preacher as he tries to sleaze on a new victim. Will they stop the preacher before he can exact his revenge? Will Garcia’s daughter ever enjoy Bonetti’s cooking?

Justin and Erik and reduced to their terrible Italian stereotype voices thanks to Jack Scalia’s performance as an Italian-American stereotype. They also try to make sense of the show’s cartoon premise; including which beach community Bonetti is supposed to be patrolling. They also find too much enjoyment in the weird details about Captain Midian Knight. The 80s get another trashing, despite the fact the show was made in the 1990s. Erik goes on a long walk to tie the Colonel Sanders-looking villain to a Game of Thrones Red Priest. He also explains the importance of a television child saying the phrase “I hate you forever.”

Tread Perilously continues its grab bag month by returning to Manimal with an episode they had to call “Illusion.”

When Lt. Rivera, Police Woman and Manimal’s attempt to arrest Bulgarian crime boss Zoltan Gregory (Richard Lynch) fails thanks to his diplomatic immunity, Manimal follows him to a meeting with a Siegfried and Roy style magic act. Taking in the show, Manimal and Police Woman are present when the Roy analogue turns up dead; apparently mauled by his prized white tiger. With the animal’s life on the line, Manimal works his darndest to prove the tiger is innocent. The action leads to the magicians’ warehouse, where Manimal and Police Woman learn about Gregory’s connection to fur smuggling.

Erik and Justin fancast a Manimal reboot and creates a Cinematic Universe with spinoffs like “Manphibian,” “Man-atee” and “Shehorse.” They also recall the times Rambo and James Bond helped the Mujahideen fight the Soviets. Erik has strong reactions to Police Woman’s fashion choices. Justin warns against living with tigers and gets caught up with The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Both are sad to see Manimal’s partner, Tyrone, has been recast with The Ice Pirates‘s Michael D. Roberts. They also give getting lost in the weeds a new name: “diplomatic immunity.”

Recorded live at Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con on October 28th, 2017, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbara Dillon joins Erik and Justin to discuss the show itself and the joy of watching bad episodes of good TV.

Topics include: how the show emerged from an earlier podcast Erik started, Erik’s love for Doctor Who and how he uses the show to force Justin into watching things like Star Trek: The Motion Picture and 7th Heaven. Both reveal which episode of Doctor Who they think is the worst in the show’s history and some of their favorite Tread Perilously moments thus far. Erik fails to remember the make and model of his broadcasting equipment and Justin explains why Webster is one of the most terrifying shows he’s ever watched. The pair also commits to watching the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Year of Hell” in the next year.

Tread Perilously rings in 2018 by getting back to basics: bad episodes of good television. And few episodes of Star Trek are as bad as “Spock’s Brain.”

When an ill-conceived civilization’s central processing unit — the Controller — begins to fail, it sends an attractive “Imorg” scout to find a suitable replacement. Identifying Spock (Leonard Nimoy) as a good candidate, she quickly detaches his brain from his body. Soon, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the rest of the Enterprise crew are on a desperate search for Spock’s brain while Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) somehow keeps the autonomic functions of Spock’s body running. Will he be able to reconnect brain to body before time runs out? Also, what is “brain?”

Erik tries his best to say “Spock’s brain is missing” with a straight face. Justin recalls childhood visits to the Paramount studio lot. Both get distracted when the conversation leads to Jaws the Revenge and Grindhouse. They also posit a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called “Riker’s Brain.” Erik declares Kelley as the MVP of the episode for repeatedly referring to Spock’s brain without breaking into giggle-fits. Brain puns appear throughout the discussion while Erik and Justin declare the third season of Star Trek as a failed experiment. Erik has a hard time saying the word “autonomic.” And the appearance of hipster cavemen leads to Thag, the Neanderthal with a Sleep Number franchise.